I am a single mother by choice, blessed with my daughter Raphaela, conceived and born in Jerusalem in October 2009. Raising a happy and healthy child; balancing work, parenthood and relationships; with the additional challenge of doing it on my own, in Israel.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Fight The Power That Be

The school year ends officially in June, July being designated as the "11th Month." Which means that they call it camp instead of Gan and charge 900 NIS for child care and education until two pm, and then charge another 750 NIS for child care and education from two to four pm.

Once you get to August, it's actually Camp instead of Gan, and you pay a fortune for two weeks worth of entertainment which allows parents to work. Leaving the last two weeks of August empty, with absolute freedom/chaos for the children until classes begin again in September.

I had left a message for the woman in charge of this July camp, saying that Raphaela and I would not even be in the country for half the month, and did that entitle us to pay half rather than the full amount?

No.

I asked if I got any sort of consideration as a single mother?

No.

I will appeal this policy to the highest authority in the Jerusalem Municipality, not just for myself, but there must be other families who paradoxically cannot afford to pay for camp, so the adults in the house can attempt to earn a living.

4 comments:

That is ridiculous - of course you don't pay for two full weeks that you won't be there. And for the two weeks you will be there, try to schedule your patients in between 7.15 am and 2, and/or do a playdate swap with another couple of parents so you don't have to pay for the afternoon session.

If you need the whole month though, it is good value. You get 5 hours of morning activities (which are real planned activities) for 40/day and the afternoon is lunch and 2 hours of babysitting for 34 shekels.

Why don't call them and say you are paying for ... give the dates you will be there ... so that's 450 for the two weeks. If you put it like that rather than asking, you might get away with it. If not you could probably find a different kaytana for two weeks for less than 1600. Good luck.

If we weren't going to the States for my brother's wedding for two weeks, the July Municipality option would be great, and economical. It just frustrates me that they are so inflexible. From what I understand, you sign up online and they automatically take it off your credit card, so you can't really put in anything different than the 900 NIS.

Harry The Highlander

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